WORCESTER — The touching began just months after her August 2004 arrival in the Mayottes' home in Northbridge as an 8-year-old, according to the girl.

Now 17, she sat before a Worcester Superior Court jury Wednesday and testified that she was sexually abused by Joseph Mayotte over a span of nearly five years.

Mr. Mayotte, 50, and his 49-year-old wife, Linda Mayotte, both of 67 Laura Lane, Northbridge, are on trial on charges that include child rape, child rape aggravated by age difference, indecent assault and battery on a child, indecent assault and battery and assault with intent to rape.

One of the two alleged victims, now 21, testified earlier that Mrs. Mayotte initiated a sexual relationship with him that began in 2005, when he was 13, and ended in 2007 after she became pregnant with his child. Ms. Mayotte told police the boy raped her.

Mr. Mayotte's accuser, who was also in the couple's care at the time, testified Wednesday that she began sleeping in the same bed with Mr. Mayotte when she was 8 because the Mayottes had suggested their house might be haunted and she was afraid to sleep alone in her room.

"It pretty much became a routine right away," the teen said of the sleeping arrangements, which she said did not include Ms. Mayotte.

Months after her arrival in her new home, Mr. Mayotte "began to touch me inappropriately," the teen told the jury. She said the touching was both over and under her clothing and left her "very confused and scared."

"I'd never been in that situation before so I didn't know how to react," she said.

Eventually, Mr. Mayotte began to engage in other forms of sexual activity with her, sometimes holding her down when she resisted or urging her to comply by saying, " 'Oh, come on. It's OK,' " the teen testified.

Several times, she said, he watched pornographic films in her presence.

"Over time, I began to realize that this wasn't right," she told the jury.

On June 15, 2007, the girl told two of her friends from the neighborhood what Mr. Mayotte had been doing to her, according to her testimony.

The girls told their mother, and police and the state Department of Children and Families were notified. Police officers and DCF workers went to the home.

"I was petrified. I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know if I was doing the right thing," the teen testified.

While she was being questioned in one room of the house, she could hear Ms. Mayotte in the kitchen, crying uncontrollably and saying to Mr. Mayotte in a loud voice, " 'I believe you. I believe you,' " she said.

The teen testified that she told the police officers and DCF officials the allegations were untrue. Weeks later, she said, Ms. Mayotte took her to the police station to give a statement and the girl again told police the allegations were false.

"I didn't want the family to break apart. I finally had a family," she said.

In May 2009, the girl told her therapist that the allegations she made in 2007 and later recanted were actually true. She said Ms. Mayotte's reaction was one of anger.

"She said it would be better if the police were not involved," the girl testified.

When interviewed again by DCF officials, the girl said that her allegations from 2007 were true, but that nothing had happened since then.

Weeks later, she told authorities she had been continuously sexually abused by Mr. Mayotte since 2004.

Under cross-examination by Mr. Mayotte's lawyer, Christopher P. LoConto, the 17-year-old acknowledged that she never told police or DCF officials about some of the things she testified to in court. Mr. LoConto was scheduled to resume his cross-examination of the girl Thursday morning.